Werewolf Rules

A public domain PartyGame of suspicion, paranoia and bloody murder. One player is the Referee. Two players take the role of werewolves (or Mafia hitmen, or Thing-esque aliens, or Ninjas, or double agents, or Terminators or what-baddie-have-you) while the rest of the players take the part of the quiet townsfolk (citizens/astronauts/subjects/spies/resistance fighters/etc.) who are one gruesome killing away from becoming a vicious lynch mob. Roles are handed out in secret on slips of paper, or as standard playing cards with agreed-upon meanings, or expensively manufactured cards. Again, what-have-you.

Adding to the paranoia and mob frenzy, many (most?) variants have a Seer who can detect whether a given player is a werewolf during the nighttime phase. However, baldly stating you are the Seer is a good way of getting thrown to the wolves -- or to the lynch mob if they think you are lying in order to avoid being hanged. Thus, the Seer must find more subtle ways of convincing the mob of the guilt -- or innocence -- of another player.

Play proceeds thusly:

Nighttime. Ref tells everyone to close their eyes.

Ref asks the werewolves to open their eyes.

Maintaining silence (if they know what's good for them), the wolves select their victim for the night.

Ref asks the wolves to close their eyes.

If there is a Seer, Ref asks the Seer to open her eyes.

Maintaining silence (if she knows what's good for her), the Seer indicates a player to the Ref.

Ref shows the Seer thumbs-up if the player is a werewolf, or thumbs-down if the player is not.

Ref asks the Seer to close her eyes.

Daytime. Ref asks everyone to open their eyes and announces who has died during the night. That player is out.

Players discuss which players are werewolves.

Players vote on which player to lynch, and that person is out.

Repeat until either both werewolves are killed (the villagers have won) or the number of remaining werewolves equals the number of remaining villagers (the werewolves have won).

Variations abound. Some groups also like to have one player who is a defender. That player wakes during the night and chooses another player to protect. If the defender protects that night's victim, there is no killing that night. Other groups allow for one discussion and vote before the first night.

I was fascinated by the game, first described to me as invented in France and called "Loupe-Garou" (I've learned since that the identical game 'Mafia' predates 'Werewolf'). I thought the lack of evidence would make the first rounds tedious, but the people I played with rose to the occasion, flinging accusations, making facts out of thin air, and hinging descisions on the slightest misstep or sound the referee made during the "night." It's fascinating to watch the werewolves trying not to cooperate during the day, and the seer's frustration at knowing who's evil but not saying anything that would tip off other werewolves as to her threatening identity. A superb parlour game.

When we play, we use playing cards to denote who's got what roles; red cards (mmm, blood) for the good guys, black cards for the evil people-eating whatevers. Some special roles we've used are:

The Lovers: One person gets a card denoting them as Cupid. During the first night, cupid picks two other players to be lovers, and then cupid closes her eyes and acts as a normal villager for the rest of the game. The referee then silently notifies the lovers, who can open their eyes and identify each other once. If one lover dies, either by lynching or by getting eaten, the other commits suicide in grief. These two people will try to keep the other alive, but ideally without letting on that they're lovers (werewolf: hey, two kills in one night!) Yes, it's possible that a villager may be in love with a werewolf unknowingly.

The Little Girl: One villager is precocious, and doesn't sleep at night. The little girl is allowed to open her eyes at any time during the night. The werewolves know there's a little girl, and is likely to kill someone right away whom they discover is awake during the night, so the little girl has to be very careful about looking around (sunglasses are not allowed).

Wizard: An evil wizard, who works for the werewolves (but not with them; they don't know who each other are, and wizards are still good eatin'). The wizard acts much like the seer, but is allowed to ask once per night who the seer might be.